Battlecross: Pure Aggression

Have you heard of Battlecross? Well this band from Michigan is a top-notch melodic death metal act, which ads life issues to their lyrics, with amazing drumming, sick guitar riffs and brutal vocals. This band is well seasoned and has toured many moons in the past. Battlecross performed in the Ozzfest a couple years ago, making it their last sighting at the Ozzfest, not for lack of talent, simply for the fact that Ozzfest had stopped its touring. However, with the new festival Ozzfest meets Knotfest, if the event continues each year Battlecross would not oppose to attend as a performer.

Battlecross has three full-length albums out which have pushed their success among the metal realm and they show no sign of stopping at all. In Petaluma California, we saw their performance and for lack of words they were fucking killer. One of those brutal albums and heavy as brass balls is Rise to Power, making it their third album a masterpiece with melodic metal, fast neck breaking drums and aggressive bass notes. The vocals of course are always the plus; Kyle Gunther screams his guts out. The dudes signed a contract with Metal Blade making them the tyrants in the Blue Collar Trash Metal Scene, rising from the desolated streets of Canton, Michigan. During their intense set onstage at The Phoenix Theater on 19th, they savaged the crowd with songs like, “Aiden” which talks about singer Kyle’s son a brutal song indeed. The crowd was pumped up as Battlecross lead guitarist Tony Asta shred with that guitar like a fucking pro that he is during songs like “Not Your Slave”. The pit was aggressive and the venue would resonate while bass tones by Don Slater would slaughter the masses.
Hiran Deraniyagala on guitars would play the intricate guitar riffs adding that trash sounds to songs like “Absence”- the fastest, heaviest and intensity filled melody. While they were execrating the crowds with their mutilating sounds, the fans would hail Battlecross, some new fans were shocked by their virtuosity and valiant character on stage. The intensity, and fury was felt in Petaluma, as Kyle said, “it was an honor to play on stage with Soulfly and Suffocation”, two extreme bands capable of destroying stages and driving fans fucking insane. This band has their own unique sound and they are leaving a big footprint in the metal realm. We had a one on one with Kyle Gunther and he touched subjects like, metal, their tour with Soulfly and other sick topics, check it out and support the Michigan trash metal movement.